You Rascal You
by Keeper Write
Summary: Revised version of You Rascal You: Amity twins Jack and Tori fare relatively well as Dauntless initiates, despite being raised to avoid conflict at all costs. When Eric is your leader you can't really say no, can you? What happens when two kids with good hearts are forced to play on the wrong side? They might discover they have an knack for playing the bad guy. OC/Eric
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Let's start by saying I don't even own the house I live in, let alone the Divergent Trilogy. I stole the plot and most of the lines, so thanks for that Veronica Roth. Btw, beautiful story, amazing twist to the typical dystopian theme.**_

_**I'd like to thank my brother for helping me with this story, he had a lot of input on Jack's character.**_

_**As an amateur writer, a little self-insertion never hurt anyone.**_

_**Here's a heads up, I deleted the original version of this story (by the same name) and completely revised it, so if you feel like you've read this before, please reread it because I've made a lot of major changes. **_

* * *

"I'm going to die. You're going to kill me. I knew this was how I was going to die, by_ your_ hands!" My twin brother screams, pointing down at me.

"Jack, relax. You're like, five feet off the ground, even if you do fall you won't be hurt." I reassure him.

"TORI, WHY AM I IN THIS TREE?" He shouts back, his eyebrows crinkling together in frustration.

"Fine. Get down you wuss." I say as I turn on my heels and begin to walk away. I know he's not afraid of heights, he just doesn't want scratches all over him on such an important day.

"Wait," He says, "Wait! Don't leave!"

A smile creeps onto my face as I ask, "What?"

"Get your ass up here," He sighs out in defeat. He extends a hand and helps me into an old Amity oak tree that easily concealed us from unwanted eyes. "So, what's wrong? Is this about the aptitude test?" Jack knows me so well, it's alarming.

"Yeah," I say, without further explanation. We climb until Jack grabs a branch that bends easily, it's as high as he'll dare to go. He sits with his back against the trunk of the tree and I sit with both legs hanging off a branch.

"You don't think you'll get Amity, do you?" He asks, saying aloud the words that have been haunting me for months.

"Do you think you will?" I ask, raising an eyebrow in disbelief as he snorts.

"What's the worse that could happen?" He asks, smiling through two distinct dimples, "Abnegation?"

I poke him in the stomache and he swats my hands away, "No, I wouldn't mind Abnegation. It's Candor I can't stand."

"Or worse," he adds with a shiver, "Erudite." We don't say it, but we both know which faction we belong in, and it's not Amity. After a moment of silence, he adds "we should get going."

We climb down and we walk back home.

My baby brother by two minutes, with a beauty mark under his left eye, is identical to me. As we walk back to the streets I feel nostalgic. There was a time when I was taller than him and I teased him for it. Now I'm 5 ft 7" and he's 5 ft 9", and he takes every chance he has to remind me of it. There is always the chance that the aptitude test tells us something we don't want to hear.

We share identical high, wide, cheekbones that give the impression of apple-like cheeks and, thus a lingering smile. No matter how far away we get from Amity, apples will always haunt us.

We share almond shaped eyes and while he loves almonds, I hate them. I read somewhere as I child that pre-war people used a poison that tasted like almonds called cyanide.  
I never ate almonds after that, I was too afraid it would be poison.

* * *

We go home where Ma is just setting tea on the dinner table. She smiles as she sees us walk in and embraces us in hugs.

"Jason, sweet heart, come quick" She calls out in her sing-song tone to our dad.  
Ma has her straight raven black hair let down to her waste and she's dressed in an orange skirt and yellow tank top that exposes her tanned shoulders. Our father walks in with his brown hair at his shoulders, wearing baggy yellow pants and an orange vest on a yellow shirt.  
We are biologically their children, Jackson and Victoria Argent, but my mom's hair colour is about all we share in common.

"Look at you two," Father says in astonishment.  
I feign a grin as wide as my face will let me as my father pulls me into a hug, at which point he starts crying. _Ugh, please don't cry. _"No matter.." He says inbetween sobs, "what choice you make tomorrow, we will love you, _always._" With a carress of my face and a crushing embrace to Jack, Father wipes his tears away. Ma doesn't shed tears, instead she beams at us with her radiant smile. When the dramatic "I'm so proud of you" speech is done, we sit together and eat, but not before Dad says grace. I always feel guilty when we say grace, it makes me feel uncomfortable because I'm reminded of yet another barrier between me and my parents. After eating, Jack tilts his head towards the door, asking if I'm ready to leave. I nod and we make our way to the bus stop.

* * *

We hate the nauseating mustard of Amity so we tend to wear red often. I can understand why people stare at us on the bus, two sixteen year olds sitting side by side, both clad in bright red with identical features, staring out the window at the tall buildings that get closer and closer together as we reach the heart of the city.

Physically, we don't have many differences.

Jack's got thick black eyebrows, all but no arch from lack of grooming. I've begged him so many times to let me tweeze him just a little. It gives him a menacing and mischievous look, but I think he likes it. My eyebrows are tweazed, high-arching brows that Jack says adds to my look of curiousity and interest. Not to mention they give me a regal, royal look. He has raven black hair cut short unlike the other Amity boys who tend to grow their hair out to their shoulders.  
My hair is the same colour and reaches past my waste and half way down my butt, though majority of the time it is kept up in a high pony tail or a braid embedded with flowers as it is now. His nose has a thin bridge whereas the bridge of my nose is much wider, but I think it suits me.  
Jack is lean and I would be too if my chest and bum weren't so big.

I'm always running as a messenger, so my strongest muscles are in my legs. I can throw a good punch but Jack can throw a better one considering he spends all his time lifting sacks of food so he's got some serious arm muscle.

Even our postures are different, I stand tall with certitude. He slouches with indiscipline and walks like the rest of Amity, with an annoying bounce in his step.

I tend to catch eyes often and I can say, I like it. The cute Abnegation and his sister at the front of the bus look in our direction. Jack doesn't like extra attention and gets uncomfortable easily so he looks away from them and back outside whereas I catch the boys eye and feign a smile.

* * *

Trust, self-sufficiency, forgiveness, and kindness. That's what makes the people of Amity.

That's not what makes us.

The bus stops in front of our school and Jack and I rise in unison. I sway through the crowd like liquid whereas Jack has to elbow people to get off the bus.

We approach the doors at the same time as the Abnegation siblings and the boy holds open the door for us.

"How kind of you," I say with a feigned smile as Jack and I walk inside.

"Were you flirting with a Stiff?" Jack asks me once we get our of earshot, his eyebrows raised.

"Are you kidding? I had to stop myself from saying 'How _Amity_ of you'" I retort. "And don't call em Stiffs."

With shorter classes, everyone's trying to soak up the safety net that school provides because our factions will be responsible for furthering our education. Some students are desperately trying to cling to their education (most plausibly the Erudite) and others are glad they may never have to step foot into another crowded hall of pubescent teenagers. Guess which one I am.

Jack heads to Faction History and I go the other direction to Biology. Walking towards me is the Abnegation girl from the bus, who's in Jacks FH class. I wave at her when she gets knocked to the floor by a certain infamous Candor boy.  
Nobody stops to help her except for me. I can feel eyes on my back, people wondering why I would help a _Stiff_. God, these people are so crude.

I help her to her feet and grab some of her books as she dusts off her clothes.

"You alright?" I ask.

"Fine," she mumbles staring at her toes, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, Candor can be a little... selfish." I see her lips curve upwards and she begins to follow the direction Jack was headed in, but stops abruptly in front of a window. I follow her gaze to see Dauntless dependents arriving, jumping out of a train passing by. When they land some of them roll, some crouch on the ground and others leap right into a walk, as if their legs were made of steel. "Amazing," I whisper. The small Abnegation girl grins wickedly.

I make my way to Bio, but don't think I missed the dirty looks the Candor boy and his friends gave me. As if it weren't for the bright red clothes, my tanned skin makes me stick out even more in the halls of fair-skinned teenagers.

At lunch, I find Jack sitting in the cafe with our neighbors, Scott and his younger brother Harry. As I sit down with my tray of typical Amity food, the boys are in a deep conversation about the factionless.

"Whatdya think, Tori?" Harry asks, snatching my attention.

"About what?" I say through a mouthful of food.

"The factionless, do ya think the Abnegation are doing more harm than good?" He asks innocently. Jack slaps his face and Scott hides his face in his hands.

"My dear Harry," I tease him, putting my hands over his, "My opinions tend to upset people, so I typically keep my mouth shut. Nobody seems to understand the 'agree to disagree' concept. You wanna know what I think?" He nods his head eagerly, "I think the Abnegation are selfless people and feeding the factionless is the kindest thing anyone could possible do in this society. Morally? Ethically? It is the right thing to do. Anyone who disagrees is either an idiot or a fat Erudite." Harry's eyes widen at my words as Jack and Scott laugh hysterically, their Amity laughter is loud and carries through the cafe, earning some dazed looks from people of other factions.

A volunteer speaks the first round of names and we hear two from Dauntless, two from Erudite, "From Amity: Jackson Argent and Victoria Argent," two from Candor and "From Abnegation: Caleb Prior and Beatrice Prior."

Leaving Scott and Harry with a reassuring (yet feigned) smile, I rise and Jack follows me to the exit.

Outside the cafe are ten rooms, only ever used for apt tests so I've never been in one. All I know is they're separated by mirrors instead of the glass in other rooms of the school. I catch Beatrice's gaze for a moment and feign a smile at her. She waves back, and steps into her room. I step into room 5 as Jack goes into room 6, the Abnegation siblings head into rooms 9 and 10.

Inside is a volunteer from Abnegation, he's clad in grey robes and his hair is cut short. He gestures towards the chair and I move towards it. All four walls are mirrors and I stare at my reflection as I slide into the stiff chair. I look grim, it's a strange look on an Amity girl so I look up. The lights on the ceiling are too bright and make my eyes watery, so I glance at the man.

"My name is Andrew, I volunteered to administer your aptitude test." He says. passing me a vial of clear liquid that I drink without question.  
My eyes droop heavily and are forced shut. When they open the Abnegation man is gone. Instead, I stand in the middle of our deserted school cafe. In front of me are two baskets, one containing cheese and the other; a knife.

"_Choose one_."

I shrug and say "Okay."  
My instinct is to grab the cheese and eat it, but that would do no good. I grab the knife instead and both baskets disappear.  
A door squeaks behind me and I turn to see a vicious canine stalking towards me.  
I hate dogs. The cheese would've been easier, but the knife comes in handy anyways.  
The sound of it's sharp claws against the tiles sharpen my senses and I know what I have to do.

Eyecontact provokes aggression in canines.

I stare directly at it's black orbs until I hear shuffling behind me. Turning briefly, a young Harry, maybe seven or eight years old stands behind me.

"Puppy!" He shouts out. The dog barks at Harry, like a warning telling him to back off. Harry ignores it and takes a step forward.

"Harry, no!" I warn. The attempt was futile because the dog charges, it's intent to pass me and devour Harry. With my legs spread evenly apart, I grasp the knife firmly and when it gets close enough, I grab it's collar and shove the knife into it's flesh as hard as I can without looking at it. Blocking Harry's point of view, I look down to see that I buried the knife into it's forehead and with a whimper, it slumps to the ground and warm blood begins to ooze into a pool on the ground.

"Puppy?" Harry calls out, taking a step closer.

"Just stay there, okay? Don't come closer" I say with my back towards him, the back of my neck is teaming with sweat and my hands are covered in blood.

"What did you do to the puppy?" He asks, his tone flat and dead.

"N-, Nothing, Harry. The puppy's sleeping, he's very tired." I say, hoping that the kid doesn't come any closer.

"_You're lying_. Did you hurt that puppy?" He asks, his tone deep and demonic. The blood keeps oozing and I can't seem to lift the knife out of the lifeless flesh of the dog. I keep pulling, trying to get the knife back to protect myself.

"You're creeping me out here." I mumble to myself in concentration.

"Did you kill the puppy?" He asks. I turn back to him, and notice his eyes were shadowed and all black. I take a deep breath and grit my teeth, pulling as hard as I can.

"No."

He turns to leave as I wake back up on the stiff chair in front the the Abnegation man.

My heart is racing in my chest, my neck's sweaty and my hands are so clammy that I have to wipe them on my red pants several times. The man puts his hand on my shoulder and it comforts me. He smiles at me.

"What?" I ask, suddenly defensive.

"Congratulations, your aptitude results have decided that the faction best fit for you is..." I hang onto every word he says, leaning as close as I possibly can to him, "Dauntless." I let out the breath I've been holding in relief.

"Thank you so much," I say to him, shaking his hand. He retaliates the shake but I can tell it's just to humour me.

* * *

_**A/N: Jackson and Victoria Argent go by Jack and Tori to those closest to them.**_

_**Tori looks like my friend in the cover photo whereas Jack looks more like Tyler Hoechlin**_


	2. Chapter 2

With Harry we linger for a while in the cafe just for Scott, who comes back from the apt test looking triumphant. Scott's dad offers us a ride home and we accept because truth be told, taking the bus is undesirable, too many people.  
Our parent's don't own a car, they say all this work to create green energy would be a waste if we release carbon every time we needed to leave the house. It also means Jack and I take the bus a lot.

We hop into the back of his truck where Harry plucks away on an old acoustic guitar (rather badly) and Scott climbs through the window to join us.  
He steals the guitar from his brother and plays with a degree of grace. I crawl until I sit next to Harry and begin to sing, then Scott joins in, then Jack and Harry.  
We pass by a group of Abnegation walking and they stare at us in awe, so we sing even louder.

I look at Scott, who has the same bronze skin we do and I know this isn't from working in the sun. If I transferred to another faction, say Erudite, and had a child, they would still have the golden skin of Amity.

* * *

In front of me on an old plate embroided with a design resembling tree branches is lamb and rice. It's better than what is served at school, or maybe I just think that because I was raised on this food. If someone from, say Candor, found out we eat lamb, they would be disgusted. I know because it's happened before, when I was just a child. A Candor boy pretended to vomit and said "How can you eat lamb? That's so gross! It's just a baby!" and I had no retort. But ever since then, I can't help but notice that they eat "beef" and "pork", which to me is absolutely disgusting. Why not just call it what it is, cows and pigs? It riddles me with guilt when I eat lamb because this memory always resurfaces, but Ma's lamb is finger-licking delicious.

Within Amity, there are four different classes. They determine status in society, what you eat and how spiritually connected you are to God. I think it's bullshit.

The lowest class are the ones that eat cows and pigs, along with all other sorts of animals.  
The second lowest don't eat pigs but they do eat cows, chicken, and seafood.  
The next one eat chicken and lamb, along with seafood.  
The highest one, that's us, is split into two divisions.  
The extremists, or Vegans, that don't eat any meat or consume anything that comes from an animal like milk or cheese, and us, the Welcomed, who are either vegetarian or eat some meats like chicken, lamb or seafood.

My parents cook seafood but the only meat Jack and I eat are chicken and lamb. Which class you belong to is determined by the family you're born into and if you're a transfer then you belong to the lowest class. It's barbaric and I hate the ideology behind it, to think that somehow you're status in society is determined by your blood. I think it should be determined by your level of skill and ability. I take a bite of the lamb and my taste buds explode, it's spicy and delicious and before I know it my plate is clean.

* * *

_**Next Morning**_

I get out of the cold shower to find clothes and a flower crown sprawled on my bed. Fancy clothes for a fancy day, right? Except Amity don't wear fancy clothes. It's a cropped red shirt with sleeves that go half way down my arms and ends just a few inches under my breasts and a long dark red skirt that I pull just over my waist as it reaches my toes. If it weren't for the fact that my skin is showing, it would've looked like a dress. I leave my long hair open and put the beautiful flower crown on, then tuck some hair from the edge of my face into the crown.  
For my sixteenth birthday, Ma got me something I'd been asking for since I was a child. Some make up. And now I finally have an excuse to wear it without being asked 'what's the occasion?'  
I take art classes at school, something other factions don't take seriously, so I know all sorts of tips and tricks to create illusions on the human face. I take some brown eye shadow and fill in my eyebrows, which makes me look regal and sharp. Next, I take a dark brown powder and exaggerate the shadows on my face. I highlight the areas I think would look best on me. I draw a thin line on my eyelid with black gel and I already feel prettier. I don't like the way lipstick feels on me so I skip that and eat some juicy strawberries instead. My father sees me eating in the kitchen and his eyes begin to water just as Jack's coming down the stairs. I run out the door with Jack as fast as I can. Scott's dad was kind enough to offer us a ride again, so this time Scott's parents and our parent's squeeze inside the truck while the four of us sat in the back. It felt good to leave my hair open in the wind, it's long but very thick and wavy like some of the women in Erudite, but I heard they heat up their hair with curling rods to get it to look that way.

When we get to the Hub, a crowd of Candor are smoking in front of the building. As much as I dislike their values, I have always been curious about cigarettes. Of course, Amity doesn't sell cigarettes, they say it's closely tied to aggression and depression. I disagree, I think it calms people down the way the peace serum does, except with smoking people choose willingly to do so.

When enter the building, the Prior siblings are waiting for the elevator with the man who administered my aptitude test and another woman who appeared to be their mother. Their father, Andrew if I remember correctly, lets us through and they take the stairs instead. What kind people they are, a little strange, but so selfless. To get to the Choosing Ceremony, we need to go to the twentieth floor. I wonder if Mr. Prior knew that when he led all those Abnegation people to the stairs.  
When we choose, we'll be called up in an alphabetical order but we are permitted to sit with our families. Then once we've chosen our faction, we sit in the first few rows of the section that are currently now all empty. We make our way to the Amity section where we pass familiar faces and wave hello and embrace one another. The Hub fills in quickly and we find our seats, I sit inbetween Jack and Scott. Since our last name is Argent, we will be the first to choose, after Scott. I am not anxious, as I anticipated myself to be today. Instead I am excited, adrenaline pulsing through my veins spreading courage through every ounce of my body. Then Marcus Eaton, an Abnegation leader, steps up infront of the crowd and the conversations simmer to a minimum of none at all. On the circular white stage before all the sections are five large white bowls, each representing one of the factions. In Dauntless, coals. Candor has glass, Abnegation has stones, Erudite has water. The other factions say Amity has dirt, but that's a lie. Amity does not have dirt, it has _soil_. There is a huge difference.

We have to cut our hand and bleed into the bowl that represents the faction we choose to belong to.

Marcus begins to speak and I'm sure it's a nice speech because I know he's a charming guy, I've seen him speak before. Whatever he's saying, I'm not listening to it. I'm too pumped, too wired. Jack is nonchalant, but Scott's shaking his leg rapidly.

I hear a round of applause, then Marcus says, "Scott Aborne, please step forward." We rise to leave him room to walk and as he gets up shakily from his seat.

He needs to pursue the faction he believes in, and we both know it isn't Amity. We see Scott slice his hand with the blade Marcus presents him with, then his arm reaches above the soil. He looks back at me in the crowd and I feign a smile at him, then before his blood drips into soil, he moves it over the water and becomes an Erudite initiate. The erudite clap for him, and so do I. Then other Amity members join in too, though some whisper and glare. I look over at Scott's family and his parents are smiling politely, though it seems like their eyes are watery. Harry, however, is beaming at his older brother and applauding loudly. He takes a seat in the Erudite section and the applause dies out.

"Jackson Argent"

Jack walks nonchalantly down to the bowls. If I could describe my brother in one word, it would be nonchalant. Jack cuts his hand and I hear the sizzle on the coal. I begin applauding even before the Dauntless do, but once they start it takes a while for them to calm down. Ma is beaming at him but my father grips the arm rest on his chair. Then the cheers fade and silence falls.

"Victoria Argent"

I leap to my feat and walk with my shoulders down, neck elongated. As I use the sharp blade to slice through my flesh, I can feel stares boring into my back. How strange I must look to most of them. My skin showing, flowers in my hair, my red clothes must be vibrant against the white glowing stage. I stretch my arm out over the coals and I hear the sizzle of my blood. Turning, the Dauntless go insane. Showing off a real smile, my dimples match the ones on Jack's face.

The Dauntless don't just clap. They cheer, shout, whistle, pump their fists and stomp their feet so as I walk towards their section I raise both hands and cheer with them, feeding the loud roar. Ma is smiling in approval, but father fumes in his seat, his icy glare boring into me. A few sections over I see Scott and he's smiling at me. He looks proud.

Once the last dependent has chosen, the Dauntless are the first to leave. It starts as a walk, but people quickly begin to press forward towards the stairs. The Dauntless begin to run and I keep the pace of the crowd, a new sort of energy bursting inside me. Laughter and bursts of cheers are spread, Jack glances at me and we let out a whoop of excitement.

"What the hell is going on?" Someone asks, I turn my head behind me to see an Erudite transfer. He didn't ask me the question, he asked an Abnegation transfer. He asked Beatrice Prior. When we get to the first floor, the sky is orange from the sunset and the Dauntless head out to the streets. We follow the crowd around a corner until we hear a train horn.

"No way!" Jack shouts with excitement. I have only ever seen the Dauntless do this a few times, the last time was with Beatrice but they were just jumping off, they weren't trying to jump on. They begin to climb pillars and I follow their lead, pulling myself up onto the platform. The Dauntless spread themselves out in a line and it's almost over before it even started. The train comes so fast, I run with the line and watch them jump on, then I realize that most of them are already on. I break out into a sprint and grab onto the handle, setting my foot on the groove. I help Jack grab a hold of the train, then I hoist myself in after him. I roll into someone and mutter a breathless apology, my heart racing. I rolled into a Candor transfer and Beatrice. We burst into uneasy laughter together. Then we hear shouts from outside and an Erudite transfer is still trying to get onto the train. Someone tries to help him get in but he's too far behind. He's factionless, now. The Dauntless won't take him, he's failed their first test.

"You all right?" the Candor girl I rolled into asks briskly. She's short, with dark brown skin and edgy hair. Beatrice nods and I feign a smile. "I'm Christina," she says, offering Beatrice her hand. They shake hands and it looks very stiff and awkward.

"Beatrice," She says. They turn to me.

"Victoria." I say with a friendly wave, "But call me Tori,"

"You've been on this train for a total of 3 nanoseconds, how have you already made friends?" Jack intervenes, a mischievous look on his face, "Did she threaten you guys, or what?" I flick him in the face and Beatrice laughs. Christina just stares at us, looking from Jack to me to back to him. "Uh, yeah. We're twins," Jack adds uncomfortably. Together, we decipher that we're on our way to Dauntless headquarters. Unfortunately no one knows where that is.

"They're jumping off!"

"I call bullshit on that," Christina mumbles. Peering out of the car, I see that whoever shouted was right. The Dauntless in the first few cars are jumping out onto a rooftop.  
We are seven stories high; I'm pumped.

People form a line but no one seems to want to go first. I send Jack a challenging look, raising my eyebrows.

"Together?" He asks. I nod.

Jack and I get a running start, we leap over the gap between the tracks and the rooftop and time seems to slow down for a moment. Jack rolls to a stop but it feels like I have all the time in the world to land, and somehow, I manage to land on my feet. Next follow Beatrice and Christina. Someone screams and a girl, Rita, is teetering on the edge of the rooftop, a boy trying to calm her down and pull her towards safety. Beatrice peers over the ledge of the rooftop. My guess is not everybody made it. I don't see the other Amity boy, either. Beatrice inspects a scrape on her arm and the Candor transfer, Peter, teases her for showing skin. To this, I hike my skirt up to my thighs and march past him towards the other initiates.

In front of me, a man of authority beings to speak. Once he begins speaking, all of the initiates gather in and flock around him, Jack and I standing in the front of the crowd.

"Listen up! My name is Max, I am one of the leaders of your new faction. Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."

Did I hear right? Did he say members entrance? Does that mean there is more than one way to enter the compound?

"You want us to jump off a ledge?" Christina asks in disbelief.

"Yes," Says an amused Max.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?" One of the transfers asks.

"I guess you'll find out." He replies.

Those that are already members of Dauntless move out of the way for us. I can do this. I can jump off a ledge into a dark scary hole, no problem. Because the other Dauntless are prepared to do it, they know that there is no risk jumping into that hole. I'll do it. I look around, expecting the Dauntless born initiates to throw themselves at the chance to possibly die. But nobody wants to go first.

I look at Beatrice, who is thinking to herself. If anyone deserves to indulge in the selfishness of basking in the glory of being a first jumper, it would be Beatrice. I tap her arm softly and she looks at me, nodding her head.

"Well, who's gonnna be first?" Max asks with a smirk.

I look at the Dauntless born once again, they are pathetic. Even an Abnegation transfer is willing to jump but they look like they regret choosing the faction they were born into.

"Me," She say confidently. She walks forward and clutches to the ledge, then stands and stares at the ground. She just takes a step off, then she's gone. That's not what I was planning on doing.

Jack looks at me like I'm insane, maybe I am.

"Who's next?" Max asks impatiently. I clear my throat and he points over the ledge expectantly.

I think he expects me to walk slowly to the ledge and close my eyes on the way down. So I do the opposite of that.

I run towards the edge of the building, use the ledge to push myself away and flip my body in the air so I face the sky. My hands are spread out and I let out a "WHOOOO" of excitement until the momentum stops and I bounce against something. My heart is beating so fast I can feel it in my throat. I look at what I landed on, and it's a net. I let laughter escape my lips, hands stretch out to me at the edge of the net so I grab the first one I can reach and pull myself across. I roll off, and would've fallen face-first onto a stone floor if this guy had not caught me. This guy. He's handsome but very... brooding.

"What's your name?" He asks in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Vi-" I hesitate,

"Is it a hard one?" He teases, "You can pick a new one but make it good, you won't get to choose again."

"Tori." I say, squinting at him through the darkness. "My name's Tori."

A girl with dreadlocks puts her hands on my shoulders and says "Welcome to Dauntless, Tori" in my ear. I didn't see her before. A crowd of Dauntless cheer but I can't see them.

I see Beatrice lingering in the background and I walk towards her, both of us with big stupid grins on our faces. It's too dark in here, the hole lets in some skylight but there are no lights. I've spent my whole life in Amity, where we are constantly in sunlight. The Dauntless compound doesn't look like it gets much sunlight.

"Beatrice!" I exclaim, my hands in the air, but she raises a hand to stop me.

"Tris," She corrects me.

"Ooh, Tris. A mighty fine name for the first jumper!" I say, poking her in the belly.

"Yeah, all thanks to you," She says with a sincere smile.

I say, "I doubt it, I bet you would've gone first even if I wasn't here" just as Jack falls down through the hole, screaming with excitement just as I did. My eyes have adjusted and I can now see the ring of Dauntless around the net. The brooding guy and the girl with dreads help him off the net, and then the crowd of Dauntless do a double-take, and a triple-take, and some even do a quadruple-take. Amity twins transferring to Dauntless must be a new thing for them. When asked for a name, he replies with Jack. Victoria and Jackson are gone now, it's just Tori and Jack, the ways it's always been.


	3. Chapter 3

Once everybody's on the ground, the brooding guy and the girl with dreads stand before us.

"Dauntless born go with Lauren, transfers stay with me." Says the guy. I would've liked to go with Lauren instead. We watch as Lauren escorts the Dauntless born away. They have an advantage, being born into Dauntless. They can run faster and hit harder but when it comes to bravery and courage, I guess that's down to anyone. Jumping definitely proved that.

He addresses us next. "Most of the time I work in intelligence but for the next few weeks, I'll be your instructor." He says, pacing quickly. My eyes follow his every stride, he has a presence that is hard to ignore. "My name's Four."

Four? Interesting. I wonder what it means. Has he killed four people? He must be a transfer if he has a nickname like that. Maybe Erudite? I notice the way Beatrice looks at him and I don't blame her. He's handsome, in a scary kind of way.

"Four? Like the number?" Christina asks. I almost slap myself in the face. Christina! What are you doing? I wouldn't talk out or interrupt this guy, he looks like he could kill a man with his thumb!

"Yes," Four says with an frightening smile, "Is there a problem?"

"What happened, One, Two and Three were already taken?" She asks. I put my hand on her back, warning her to shut her mouth before he stabs her or something.

He looks at his feet before asking, "What's your name?"

"Christina," She squeaks. Oh, girl. You are done for. Four inches closer to her, his hands clamp menacingly onto her shoulders.

"Well, Christina, the first lesson you learn from me if you want to survive here is to keep your mouth shut." Christina's hands are behind her back and I grab one and squeeze hard. "Do you understand?" She nods. He backs off and walks away, turning and adding "Follow me, we're going to the Pit."

"The Pit?" Christina snorts, quietly enough so she doesn't think Four hears her. But I think he does. We struggle to keep up with Four, the halls are dark and he's swift. He leads us to stairs that clang and clamor all the way down from our footsteps. Through cold halls with cement walls we turn a corner where Four pushes a set of double doors open, and we walk into the place he referred to as "the Pit."

"Oh," whispers Christina. "I get it."

"The Pit" is a fitting name. We now face an underground cavern so enormous that I can't even see the end of it from where we stand. Uneven rock walls rise several stories above our heads and built into the stone walls are places for food, clothing, supplies, and some other stuff.  
They actually built stores into the walls? Nice.  
Connecting everything are narrow paths and steps carved from rock, but there are no barriers or rails to keep people from falling over the side. Sunlight stretches across one of the rock walls and I look up to see panes of glass that form the roof. Actual light from the sun is being let in. I think I'll spend a lot of time here.

As the precious sunlight fades, eerie blue lanterns dangling above the stone paths grow brighter.

The Dauntless are everywhere, all dressed in black. Shouting, talking, laughing. Some of the them look at us and point, smiling. In another area people are fighting, whether they're practicing or actually pissed off at each other I can't tell. This seems like the center of life for the Dauntless and I can't wait to walk around.

"If you follow me," says Four, "I'll show you the chasm."

He leads us to the right side of the Pit, which is conspicuously dark. As we approach the railing, I hear a roar—water, fast-moving water, crashing against rocks.

I peer over the side, curiosity getting the better of me, and Jack grabs my arm. He's gentle, but he warns me to be careful.

"The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" Four shouts. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned."

Four leads us away, down another corridor to our bunks."You're going to be sleeping here for the next ten weeks." Initiation takes ten weeks? I don't think any of the other factions take as long as that. The twelve beds are spread out across the room, night stands next to all of them, there are twelve beds, but only eleven of us. All the beds are really close together. I peer around the corner and I can see the bathrooms.

"Boys or girls?" Asks someone, I think his name is Will.

Well, Will, did you really except the Dauntless to respect decency or privacy?

"Both," answers Four. Peter, the infamous Candor boy, lets out a whistle. "If you like this you're going to love the bathroom." Four seems to be enjoying this. The bathroom, if you can call it that, is separated in half by a curtain, boys on the left and girls on the right. Against the wall are five showers and there are rows of toilets out in the open. Great. "Get changed." Four says before leaving.

"Shower, anyone?" Peter teases. Molly snorts, somehow resembling the oink of a pig.

I open a nightstand of a bed near the back of the dorm and take out standard black pants. I throw on a baggy black T-shirt with a V neck line, showing off my collar bones and I take off my thin soled sandals and put on black socks and black and white sneakers. I throw on the initiate's jacket over top. I remove my flower crown and leave my hair as it is, then I sit on my bed, waiting for the others as I inspect my crown. It's embedded with small flowers, some pink, some white. My mom always puts yellow flowers, so my dad must've made this. I shove the crown into the nightstand and grab my former clothes. Outside, Four waits for us. He leads us to a deserted corridor where a giant flaming furnace stands hauntingly and we throw our old clothes in.

Then, Four leads us across the Pit, towards a gaping hole in the wall. The room we head towards casts light in our direction, making it easier to see. We're headed towards a dining hall where there's chatter and laughter and clattering of silverware, somewhere in the back someone drops something causing a clang to echo towards us. Walking in, the Dauntless stand and applaud us, they stomp and shout and cheer. I feign a smile at the welcome, and a few seconds later Jack does too. We scan for empty seats and follow Tris and Christina to table at the side of the hall. Somehow, I find myself sitting across Jack, inbetween Tris and Christina. Next to Tris is Four.

In the center of the table is a platter of food, _burgers_. Tris pinches one between her fingers, hesistating. I glance at Jack and he looks at me nervously. At the end of the table are some apples, and I grab a few of those instead.

Four nudges Tris with his elbow.

"It's beef," he says. "Put this on it." He passes her a small bowl full of red sauce.

"Have you never seen a burger before?" asks Christina, her eyes suspicious.

"No," She says. "I've seen burgers, I've just never eaten one."

"Abnegation eat plain food. Plant based, no sauces, minimum seasoning." Says Will, the boy right of Jack.

"Which textbook did you swallow?" Asks Christina, earning a chuckle from the boy on the left of Jack.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Will; Erudite." He points to the boy left of Jack and says, "This is Al; Candor." I'm surprised he still refers to himself as Erudite, especially with Four sitting so close.

"Of course you are," Christina says, nodding her head. "No offence, but I'm surprised Abnegation even eats at all, too selfish, right? No wonder you left."

"Yeah," Tris says, rolling her eyes. "It was just because of the food."

The corner of Four's mouth twitches.

"Well, you gotta be pretty self confident to be friends with a Candor." says Jack. He turns to Will and Al, saying "I'm Jack, that's Tori."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Christina cries as Jack and I stifle laughter.

"You have no filter! You say the first thing that comes into your head," retorts Will.

"Hmm, like you're an idiot." Says Al.

"Nice, Al. Atleast we tell the truth." Christina says as-a-mater-of-factly. "So you two are Amity twins?" She asks, pointing to me and Jack. Will's about to say something witty about Erudite, but he's cut off by Four.

"I don't want to hear any more about your old factions." All our eyes turn to him, and he clearly doesn't like it so he turns away, saying, "You're Dauntless now."

"Were you a transfer too? Or Dauntless born?" Tris asks him. Perhaps Tris is braver than I give her credit for, or maybe she's just suicidal.

He turns his head towards her and says, "Are you kidding?"

"No," Tris replies.

"What makes you think you can talk to me," He asks, as if he's godlike and amoungst peasants.

"It must be because you're so approachable." Tris retorts. Jack and I both snort, and I cover my mouth with my hand, hiding my smirk. Four stares at her until she looks away.

"Careful." He says before taking a sip from his cup.

Tris turns her attention back to us, where Christina squints at her.

"What?" She asks.

"I'm developing a theory."

"And it is?"

She picks up her burger, grins, and says, "That you have a death wish."

I say, "I second that theory" just as a young man sits down next to Four and our table goes silent.

It isn't the piercings or the tattoos that make him look so menacing, it's the coldness of his eyes. He doesn't greet Four or the rest of us, so we don't say anything to him. I can't bring myself to look at him for more than a few seconds, so I look at Jack. His eyes are trained on an apple. Al, however, can't tear his eyes off of him. He's full on staring with his mouth gaping and all.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" Eric says to Four, nodding to Christina, Tris and I.

"Initiates, this is Eric. One of the Dauntless leaders." He pauses. "This is Will, Al, Jack, Christina, Tori, and Tris. The other initiates are scattered about." Says Four, devoid of emotion. I decide to look at Eric, and his eyes are trained on me. He does a double-take between Jack and I, and laughs. His face contorts wickedly and the smile looks feigned and strange on his face.

The Dauntless cheer and laugh and do crazy things all the time, but I can't imagine this man cheering or laughing or doing something fun. I can only envision him sitting by himself in his room plucking limbs off of spiders. He is Jack's height and has hard green eyes that scrutinize us. His blonde hair is styled in a long quiff and is chiseled jaw is set hard, like he swallowed something sour.

"We'll see how long you last." Eric says, taking a bite out of his burger.


	4. Chapter 4

After dinner, Four disappears without a word and Eric leads us down a series of hallways without telling us where we're going. I don't know why a Dauntless leader would be responsible for a group of initiates, but hopefully it's just for tonight.

At the end of each hallway is a blue lamp, but between them it's dark, and I have to be careful not to stumble over uneven ground. Jack walks beside me in silence, both of us scowl.

Eric stops in front of a wooden door and folds his arms. We gather around him, Jack and I once again at the front of the unorganized crowd.

"For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," he says. "I am one of five leaders of the Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training."

The thought makes me nauseous. The idea that a Dauntless leader will oversee our initiation is bad enough, but the fact that it's Eric makes it seem even worse.

"Some ground rules," he says. "You have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some time off between each stage of initiation."

The phrase "do whatever you like" sticks in my mind. I like to sing, paint, sketch and read. I take it I won't be able to do that here.

"You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a full fledged Dauntless member," Eric adds. "Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. Four has already shown you around. You will notice that there are twelve beds and only eleven of you. We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far."

"But we started with fourteen," protests Christina. Oh Christina, Four is one thing but talking out against Eric, a Dauntless leader is another.

"There is always at least one transfer who doesn't make it to the compound," says Eric, picking at his cuticles. He shrugs. "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiates separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-born initiates. And they are better than you are already. So I expect—"

"Rankings?" asks an Erudite transfer to my right. "Why are we ranked?" Shut your mouth and maybe Eric would be able to get to that.

Eric smiles, and in the blue light, he looks eerily handsome.

"Your ranking serves two purposes," he says. "The first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available. The second purpose," he pauses to build anticipation, "is that only the top twelve initiates are made members."

Pain stabs my stomach. We all stand still as statues. And then Christina says, "What?"

"There are eleven Dauntless-borns, and eleven of you," Eric continues. "Four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the final test."

That means that even if we make it through each stage of initiation, ten initiates will not be members. I look at Tris right away but she doesn't look back. She just stares at Eric. Being the smallest here and from Abnegation doesn't give her any advantages.

"What do we do if we're cut?" Peter asks. Nobody wants to know the answer.

"You leave the Dauntless compound," says Eric indifferently, "and live factionless."

The Erudite transfer clamps her hand over her mouth and stifles a sob.

"But that's…not fair!" Molly cries out. Even though she sounds angry, she looks terrified. "If we had known—"

"Are you saying that if you had known this before the Choosing Ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" Eric snaps. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward." Eric is right. Even with this knowledge, my desire to become Dauntless hasn't faltered, it has only flared into a more intense desire.

Eric pushes the door to the dormitory open.

"You chose us," he says. "Now we have to choose you."

As I lay in bed I know sleep will be impossible. Ma, and unfortunately my father, haunt my thoughts and I think of visiting day. Will they come? I would love to see them, but I don't think I want them to see me. I hear someone sobbing, and I know it's Al. Tris is right by him and I can tell she's awake, so why wouldn't she comfort him? Maybe she doesn't know how.

With a sigh, I lug myself off my bed and sit on the edge of Al's. He feels my weight next to him and wipes away the tears as he's about to get up, embarrassed. I stop him, and he lies back down. All I do is put one hand on his back and with the other I hold his hand until he falls asleep minutes later.

* * *

"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight." Four presses a gun into my palm without looking at me and keeps walking. At least we don't have to practice getting on and off a moving train.

"Initiation is divided into three stages. We will measure your progress and rank you according to your performance in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it is possible, though difficult, to drastically improve your rank over time."

The gun I hold in my hand feels powerful and dangerous and against my upbringing, I like it. Jack and I have a bit of an advantage against the other initiates with this exercise. We used to hunt back in Amity, so we have experience with hunting rifles. It might not be the same as the machine gun I hold now, but the practice will definitely play to our advantage.

"We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear," says Four. "Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."

"But what…" Peter yawns through his words. "What does firing a gun have to do with…bravery?" His yawn is contagious, and Molly yawns too.

Four aims his gun at Peter mid-yawn, and he looks like he's going to piss his pants. Perhaps Four isn't so much different than Eric after all.

"Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot._ Act like it_."

Four lowers his gun and Peter has to stop himself from spazzing, I can see fury in his Candor green eyes.

"And to answer your question…you are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself." Four stops walking at the end of the row and turns on his heel. "This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch me." Information we need after stage one? Okay, focus time.

He faces the wall with the targets on it—one square of plywood with three red circles on it for each of us. He stands with his feet apart, holds the gun in both hands, and fires. The bang is so loud it hurts my ears. The bullet went through dead center of the middle circle.

I turn to my own target. My parents would never approve of me firing a machine gun. They would say that guns are used for violence and aggression, and conflict can be easily avoided with out them.

I push my family from my mind, and try to mimic everything Four did. I set my feet shoulder-width apart, and wrap both hands around the gun. It's cold. I almost drop it when Tris fires her gun first. She fires again and again and misses every time.

"Statistically speaking," Will says, grinning at her, "you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." He is blond, with shaggy hair and a crease between his eyebrows, I can't see him in Erudite, reading a book. His body is large and packed with muscles.

I look back to my target and try to take in what Four did right and what Tris did wrong. She's holding the gun too far away and she's clearly afraid of it.

Again, I set my feet apart and put both hands around the trigger. Ensuring my elbows aren't locked, I take my time, aim, breathe, and pull the trigger with ease. Looking at the target, I hit a little left of the center of the middle circle.

Jack pats me on the back, laughing, and says, "Remind me not to piss you off."

We keep shooting and it seems like Jack's as equally as good with these guns as I am. Tris takes a while longer, but she gets the hang of it after five rounds.

By the time we break for lunch, everyone's arms are burning from the kick of the guns.

Christina invites Al over, and Will walks towards our table.

"Can I sit here?" says Will, tapping the table with his finger.

"What, you don't want to hang out with your Erudite buddies?" Christina taunts.

"They aren't my buddies," Will says defensively, setting his plate down. "Just because we were in the same faction doesn't mean we get along."

There's chicken wings on the table infront of us and I'm ecsatic. They're bland, but there's seasonings on the table and I coat my chicken wings with them. Jack, who sits across me, spots something at the end of the table.

"Hey, Al, can you pass that?" Jack asks. Al nods, avoiding my eye, and passes a small bowl of something to Jack.

"Are those-" I start

"Mhhmm" He answers, scooping it out onto his plate.

"Hey! Don't take all of it!" I whine, grabbing the bowl from his hands.

"What is it?" Tris asks from beside me.

"I hold in my hand, a bowl full of crushed chili peppers!" I say, practically squealing with excitement. I take three heaping spoonfulls and put it in my plate, mixing it in with the salt and garlic. Tris looks stumped.

"Amity food was full of spices and herbs, we like our food spicy." Jack explains.

"But you didn't eat those beef burgers, I thought Amity only ate fruits and vegetables." Tris says.

"Amity has different classes, all of which eat different types of food. I'm guessing these two are high class." says Will. Jack swallows and looks at me, but I continue eating my excessively spicy chicken wings.

"We were the Welcomed," says Jack grimly. "Besides, who do you think hunts all the meat the factions eat?" Next to us, Christina and Al stop their conversation about school.

"I just thought since you two were from Amity, you must've _worked_ on farms a lot." Christina interrupts, Will snickers. I just stare at her. There's a joke with Erudite and Candor about Amity, that they have orgies on farms all the time. Not true. I've only ever been on a farm once when I was a child and I hated it.

"Yeah. We played banjos and had sex on farms" I say shortly. Jack, who was drinking water, chokes and starts coughing. Al breaks into laughter and Tris covers her mouth to hide her smirk. Will looks surprised but Christina gives me a look of approval.

"Sorry, am I being rude?" she asks. "I'm used to just saying whatever is on my mind. Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging."

"I think that's why our factions don't usually associate with each other," Jack says, with a short laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

After lunch, Four leads us to a new room. It's massive, with all sorts of mats and rings. There's a foul stench in the air, the powerful odour of sweat and the bitter scent of blood. There's an electronic scoreboard with all our names on it in alphabetical order. I'm second. One side of the room holds black punching bags, just the sight makes my hands clammy. I've never had the need to fight, I got into a lot as a child but I quickly learned that fighting is the worst thing someone can do in Amity. I was taught to keep silent, no matter how much something bothers me and unlike Jack, I've never gotten the chance to strengthen my arm muscles. Four stands in front of us where we can all see him while Eric lingers in the background.

Right now, we're supposed to go over technique, then tomorrow we fight. Four names a few different punches, demonstrating each one as he does, first against the air and then against the punching bag. I watch very closely, scrutinizing his every move. They way his feet move, which direction they point in, where he hits, which part of the hand he uses, how long he gives himself. It's a lot to take in, but I need to know everything. I need to win that fight tomorrow. Four shows us some basic kicks and I plan to use those to my advantage, I think everyone else is more eager to throw a punch than a kick.

We start practising on the punching bags, and all around me is the sound of skin hitting tough fabric.

Four wanders through the crowd of initiates, watching us as we go through the movements and giving advice. When he stops in front of me, I feel like throwing up. He stares at me because that's his job. I want to freeze until he's gone, but I know he could give me valuable information. So I think back to his form and try to mimic it, throwing a few different punches that don't move the punching bag very much. Instead, I turn to the kicks, turning my body, extending my legs, bending knees. Four nods in approval. Hoorah. He moves on with out giving me advice. Four walks over to Tris and man, the sexual tension is high. Tris may not have seen it, but I definitely did.

I continue punching, extending my arms and pounding away at the tough fabric of the bag. All attempts seem futile. My punches are too weak.

"You've got muscle in your legs, use those to your advantage." Eric says from behind me. Yeah, I already know that. God, where did he come from anyways? I had forgotten he was even here. "Not much in your arms, so try using your knees and elbows too." I nod. Elbows and knees? I can do that.

When Four dismisses us for dinner, Christina nudges Tris with her elbow.

"I'm surprised he didn't break you in half," she says, "He scares the hell out of me. It's that quiet voice he uses."

"Yeah. He's…" Tris look over her shoulder at him, "…definitely intimidating,"

I snort. "Intimidating? Try straight up killer. He's got that whole, scary-sexy vibe. Not my type." Christina laughs, and Tris raises her eyebrows.

"I think he's got his eyes on you, Tris," says Christina, poking Tris in the arm.

"He had more than his eyes on her," I tease, and Tris flushes to a deep shade of pink.

Al, who was in front of us and most likely eavesdropping, turns around and announces, "I want to get a tattoo."

From behind us, Jack asks, "A tattoo of what?"

"I don't know." Al admits, laughing nervously. "I just want to feel like I've actually left the old faction. Stop crying about it." When we don't respond, he adds, "I know you've heard me."

I pokes Al's thick arm. "I think you're right. We're half in, half out right now. If we want all the way in, we should look the part."

We give Tris a look.

"No. I will not cut my hair," she says, "or dye it a strange color. Or pierce my face."

"How about your bellybutton?" Christina suggests.

"Or your nipple?" Will says with a snort, forcing a groan out of Tris.

The Pit is swarming with people. Christina announces that she, Tris and I will meet Jack, Al and Will at the tattoo parlor and drags us toward the clothing place. We stumble up the path, climbing higher above the Pit floor, scattering stones with our shoes.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Tris asks, "I'm not wearing grey anymore."

"They're ugly and gigantic." Christina sighs. "Will you just let me help you? If you don't like what I put you in, you never have to wear it again, I promise."

Ten minutes later Tris stands in front of a mirror in the clothing place wearing a knee-length black dress. I slip the tie from her hair and she shakes it out of its braid so it hangs wavy over her shoulders.

Then Christina holds up a black pencil.

"Eyeliner," She says.

"Woah there!" I say, stopping Christina. "Are you kidding? Black eyeliner on someone as pale as Tris?" I grab a brown eyeliner pencil and hand it to Christina, "Try this instead."

"You aren't going to be able to make me pretty, you know." Tris closes her eyes and holds still. Christina runs the tip of the pencil along the line of Tris's eyelashes, extending it just past the edge of her eyelid.

"Who cares about pretty? We're going for noticeable." says Christina. Since we're here, I figured I'd grab a dress too. Black, of course, with a low neckline and sleeves extending half way down my arms, just like the shirt I wore on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. The cut on the back is deep, and I know I want a tattoo there. The dress goes down to the middle of my thighs. Since there's makeup, I put some on just like I did a few days ago. I brush my hair through with my fingers and Christina plays with it while talking to Tris.

The pink haired clerk in the store explains how we're supposed to pay for our things. In Dauntless, the form of currency is points. As initiates, we get a minimum amount of points every month to spend on whatever we'd like. Once we've passed initiation and start working, the number of monthly points we get should increase, depending on the importance of our role.

"Let's go watch Al get tattooed," I suggest. We walk down the narrow path to the tattoo place and Christina surprises me by asking how I manage to look so striking by just walking.

"Shoulders down, chin up. Just walk and think _murder_." I reply. She tries it, and so does Tris. "You look good!" I say with a feigned smile.

When we garrive, Al is sitting in the chair already and a small, narrow man with more ink than bare skin is drawing a spider on his arm. The buzz of needles and chatter fill the store.

Will and Christina flip through books together, they'd make a good couple. Jack flips through designs. Tris talks to a stunningly gorgeous Dauntless woman. I look around and I know what I want tattood to me, but I don't see it on any of the displays.

"Can I help you?" Someone asks me. I turn to find a striking young man with tattoos all over his arms, making them look like sleeves of a shirt. He smirks at me. "I'm Fry."

"Yeah, actually." I say. I grab a napkin from the glass counter displaying piercing jewelry, then take a pen from his pocket shirt. He looks surprised. I draw a symbol on the napkin. I don't know what this symbol means but I have seen it once before. When I was young I found a wooden box under my parents bed, with this symbol carved into it. It's three spirals connected together. "Can I get this?"

He nods his head and takes me to a chair next to Al. "Where do you want it?"

"Between my shoulder blades," I answer, pulling my hair to the front. Since I want it on my back, he makes me sit backwards on the chair, my legs straddled around it. This causes my dress to ride up a bit but I couldn't care less. I look over at Al, who's still getting inked and he turns his head towards me. I lean my head on the chair and face him. Fry gets to work after putting a jelly-like substance on my back. The pierce of the needle startles me, but the pain is ephemeral. It's a paralyzing pain, my body goes stiff and refuses to move. He pulls the needle off my skin every few minutes and the pain fades immediately but I want to ask him to put it back on. It's an addictive feeling, leaving me with a rush. It's silly, but the pain pulses through my body and I feed off it like adrenaline. I can understand why the Dauntless are covered in tattoos.

"I never thanked you-" He starts, but I hush him immediately. "Tori, I-" He tries again, but I still hush him. Al's tattoo is done now, but he doesn't get up just yet. He reaches out to hold my hand and I'm about to give it to him when Jack walks up to me, disapproval on his face. Al leaves immediately.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Jack? I'm getting a tattoo." I say, feigning the most innocent smile I can. He crosses his arms, mimicking Four's disproving gaze, then sighs.

"What are you getting?" He asks, "Please don't tell me it's a spider too." I nod towards the napkin on Fry's table, next to ink and needles. He looks at it, and he knows what it is. "I remember this," He says, in a whisper. "This was on that box," So he's seen it too. He turns to Al's tattoo artist and says, "Can you put that on me too? Same spot."

* * *

"Since there are an odd number of you, one of you won't be fighting today," says Four, stepping away from the board in the training room. He gives Tris a look. The space next to her name is blank.

Will – Al

Myra – Tori

Christina – Molly

Peter – Edward

Drew – Jack

Tris

Will and Al stand across from each other in the arena. They put their hands up by their faces to protect themselves, as Four taught us, and shuffle in a circle around each other. Al is half a foot taller than Will, and twice as broad. This fight won't last long. Tris and Christina gossip about Peter, Drew and Molly. How they can talk like that while Al and Will are throwing punches at each other beats me. I can't stand the pettiness any longer, and I walk away taking a seat next to Jack.

"You should put your hair up," He says without taking his eyes off Will and Al. I do just that, but it's not a neat and tight Abnegation bun, its messy and quick. He glances at me and says,"Scratch that, maybe you should just cut your hair." He's teasing me, but I think he's right. My hair goes down to my butt and that's a huge disadvantage during a fight.

I watch as Will socks Al in the jaw. "I want to get pierced," I say, Jack raises his eyebrows. "But I want to wait until the physical evaluations are over. If I make it that far."

"You'll make it," He says quickly. Jack adds "You're strong. Use your legs." I put my head on his shoulder and wince every time Al or Will gets hit. Drew is shorter than both Peter and Molly, but he's built like a boulder, and his shoulders are always hunched. Jack can take him. But can I take Myra? She's not very tall, but she's quick, I've seen her on a punching bag. I need to make sure I don't let her hit me in the stomach or chest, otherwise I won't be able to block and she'll keep pounding away.

Back in the fight, Will and Al look at Four expectantly, hoping he'll call off the fight. Instead, Eric starts yelling at them, telling them it's not over until someone can't fight. Four and Eric bicker over conceding, though in the end Eric has the authority.

Al looks ferocious, he attacks Will who was taunting him only seconds earlier. He punches him hard in the jaw, and Will hits the ground. Jack and I hold our breaths as Al's eyes widen and he hits the ground, trying to wake Will up. After a moment, Will blinks, he's clearly dazed. I breathe again.

"Next up - Myra and Tori!" Shouts Eric. Al pulls Will's arm across his shoulders and carries him out of the arena. Will Myra do the same to me? Or will she leave me on the ground and revel in her victory? This fight is already over before it has started. Myra's already in the arena when I've only just risen off the bench. Stop this. I can't psych myself out, I can win this. I need to win this. I step into the arena and I notice Myra's probably only a little over 5 feet tall.

Myra charges towards me, her eyes trained on my chest. I move quickly to the side and let her run right past me. She turns, disoriented, and I take the opportunity to attack first. I face her even though it means her target is larger and as I raise my bent left leg, my right pivots and I extend my left to hit her with more force that I anticipated right in her chest. She stumbles back and lands on the ground, wheezing for breath.

_That kick. _

_That made me feel so powerful. _

_I have the power to beat Myra. _

In seconds, she's back on her feet, if not a little breathless. She throws a weak punch as I raise my arms to protect my chest because I know she doesn't go for hits in the face. She hits my forearm without much impact. Making eye contact, she's pleading to me. She wants this over as fast as possible, I nod my head. She doesn't protect her face so I extend my right arm and punch her in the jaw like I saw Will do to Al, leaving my knuckles stinging. Then, I send my elbow to her nose and her hands fly up to her face, she's bleeding. I send my knee to her squishy stomach and she hunches over. I take a step back, to let her stand again.

"Come on, Tori." Eric says. His words send a chill down my spine, he says my name so casually like he knows me. I don't like it. I don't like him.

Myra stands, her body slightly swaying, her hands protecting her chest. One quick blow, that's all she needs. My hands are in front of my chest, ready to punch. Instead, I raise my left leg, pivot my right, and kick her right in the jaw. Myra slumps to the ground. I rush to her, my ear to her face. I feel soft and short breaths. She's alive. I carry her, one arm under her legs, the other on her back, and she's like a child in my arms. She can't weigh more than 90 lbs. This was like beating up a child. I feel sick.

I walk across the room, my feet dragging, and everyone's eyes are on me. Four takes Myra and carries her out. I stand for a moment by the door, watching them go. Then someone slaps me on the back, hard. I turn and see Eric smirking at me.

"Congratulations, that was a good fight." He says. I don't reply, just push his hand off and walk away. I hate him, he's congratulating me for knocking out someone with the build of a child.

I walk back to Jack sitting on the bench, right where I left him. I take a seat on the ground in front of him, crossing my legs. Opening my hair, he plays with it. He knows this calms me down. Eric circles my name on the board. _Victory._  
Above my name, Al's is circled too. Next is Christina and Molly. I don't want to watch this. I close my eyes as Jack runs his hands through my hair, I think he's trying to braid it. I hear grunts and smacks but I don't want to open my eyes.

"That was a good fight," Jack says, "You did really well," I open my eyes, and Eric's looking at me. He quickly turns his attention back to the fight. I lean my head back to stare at Jack.

"I just knocked out a girl with the build of a child. Don't tell me what I did was good," I say, scowling. I tie the end of the braid, it's messy and disheveled but he tried his best. I look at the fight and Christina's on the ground, backing away from Molly.

This is not going to end well. Christina asks to stop the fight and I'm surprised that Eric does. But then he calls for a break and leads us all out of the room, and as he passes I see a glint in his eyes. He has something planned. His hand is against Christina's back and he's talking to her, but I can't hear what they're saying. This path looks familiar. I freeze in my tracks so suddenly that Jack walks into me.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"Jack," I whisper, "The Chasm." We hear the roar of splashing waves and someone yells. We run to catch up and Christina's dangling on the edge of the pathway above the deadly Chasm. Christina's face is distorted and crinkled, she is crying.

I step past Al and Tris and I'm about to shove Eric out of the way to pull her up when Jack pulls me back. "What are you doing, Jack?" I ask, seething.

"Tori, think this through! If you attack Eric he's going to do the same thing to you. You're no good to Christina if you're dangling above the Chasm too." I listen to his words and yank my arm away from him. Turning my head, Eric is now staring at me. I bite the insides of my cheeks to stop myself from screaming at him.

"Five minutes are up" Al spits at Eric.

"Fine," says Eric. "You can come up, Christina" I start towards her, but Eric says, "No. She has to do it on her own."

"No, she doesn't," I growl at him, "She did what you said. She's not a coward. She did what you said." Eric doesn't respond.

Al reaches over the railing, and he's so tall that he can reach Christina's wrist. She grabs his forearm. Al pulls her up, his face red with frustration, and I grab her under her shoulders once Al and Jack lift her high enough. Together, Al, Jack, Tris and I haul her over the barrier. She drops to the ground, her face still blood-smeared from the fight, her back soaking wet, her body quivering. I kneel next to her. Her eyes lift to mine, then shift to Al, Jack and Tris and we all catch our breath together.

Continuing to watch the rest of the fights are a hard thing to do. I stay for Jack's sake and am sure to steer away from Eric.

At the end of the day, an electronic scoreboard is updated and in first place is Peter, of course. I scan the names from the bottom up. Jack is fourth place, I'm fifth. Jack smiles and pulls me into a hug, but then we see familiar names in red and we conceal our satisfaction.

That night, I have a vivid dream. I don't have many of those. It's so lucid I could've sworn it was real. I dream Christina hangs above the Chasm and I run towards her but Eric is in my way. I run towards him but instead of blocking my attack, he pulls me in for a kiss. I can't pull myself away, he's too strong and I stop fighting. I let him kiss me, I let his lips trail from mine down to my neck. I let his hands violate my body, he rips the black dress I wear. His arm reaches to the back of my neck and I see my parents behind him. I can't call out to them.

"You must deceive to keep the peace, Victoria," My father says. Christina falls into the Chasm, her scream trickling my spine. Eric's hands travel from the back of my neck down, but when his hands come in contact with the fabric of my dress, he rips it to reveal my tattoo. Then I wake up.

I am gasping for breath, my body is sweaty and I feel gross. I will never tell anyone of that dream. I need to shower. No one else is awake so I go take a shower and it feels good, the water and soap lathering away the sweat. When I dry myself off and get dressed, I don't know what to do with my wet hair. Standing in front of a mirror, I hold back my hair to see what I would look like with short hair. I would look good with hair at shoulder-width, but I decide to go even shorter than that. Grabbing the first pair of scissors I see in the bathroom, I begin to snip away my towel dried hair into a garbage can.

_Snip._

_Snip, snip._

_Snip._

With every snip of the scissors I think of the hardships I've lived through.

_Snip._

My father.

_Snip._

Ma.

_Snip, snip_.

School.

Sure, most people must've had it a lot worse, but there have been some things that have specifically driven me away from Amity.

I give my self something the Erudite call a pixie cut, It's about the same length as Jack's.

Now people will most likely give us more double-takes. Still, nobody's awake. It's 6:30 in the morning so I decide to visit Myra. When I find her, she looks terrible. She wakes up when I sit by her bed, and the apology flies out of my mouth but she stops me like I stopped Al when he wanted to thank me. "You did what you had to do. I don't blame you" She says softly. "You should blame me." I say quietly. "Tori, you're Dauntless. You are made to be here, you're not going to get through the first stage without knocking a few people out. Besides, I attacked first, remember?" I feel better, but I still can't believe that she's reassuring me when I'm the one who put her in a hospital bed. I felt powerful when I hit her, that's what scares me most.

When I leave her to rest, it's 7:15 so I make my way to the dining hall for breakfast. Not many people are in there yet, but they'll be coming soon so I grab something called a croissant and a cup of coffee. I love and hate coffee. I love the taste, bitter or sweet. I love the rush, the caffeine, the adrenaline. I hate that I need it daily to wake up properly now. Just as I take the first sip, Jack and the others walk into the hall and I wave them over. Jack ruffles my hair and sits to my right. He does a double-take, then a triple-take, and a quadruple-take. He pulls my hair just to be sure. "Ow" I say, punching him in the arm, "That still hurts, you moron." He doesn't want to admit it, but I can tell he likes it on me. Christina and Tris sit to my left. They compliment me and I smile at them. Will and Al sit across us. Al stares between me and Jack, then he frowns and stares at his food. Jack hesitates in front of the food, mostly everything is beef or pork. Bacon, sausages, eggs. I give Jack my croissant without hesitation.

When we get to the arena, everyone stares at the board.

Edward – Molly

Peter – Tris

Will – Christina

Jack – Al

Drew – Tori

Myra –

Glancing at Four and Eric, I know exactly who was up to this. Four is silently seething, but Eric is excited. He likes to watch people get knocked out, I think he get's off on it. I wish I had the chance to knock him out, see if he still like it then. He catches my eye and raises his eyebrows. I storm off and sit on the bench. Not only do I have to watch Tris get knocked out by Peter, but I'm going to be the last to fight today.

Speaking of Tris, as Edward and Molly fight, Christina and Al are talking to her but by looks of it she doesn't like what they're saying. They must be telling her to play dead. She must hate that they don't believe she can take him. Sighing, I walk up to her and place my hands on her shoulders. She winces at the contact because my hands are freezing, as they always are.

"Sorry," I mutter, but I don't remove my hands. I speak into her ear, saying "You can take him. I've seen Peter fight, he's overconfident. Watch him, he steps before punching. Eric told me to use my elbows and knees, I think you should too. Attack him first, and go for the throat. He underestimates you, they all do. You'll be able to take hits to the chest and stomach, but don't let him hit your face." Tris turns to face me and she gives me a hug.

"Thank you." She says.

"You can take him, I know you can."

"Good luck. With Drew, I mean." she says.

"I might die from anxiety before the match actually starts, but at least that way Drew won't be able to kill me." I say, earning a chuckle from her. We turn to see Molly peeling herself off the ground, courtesy of Edward. I walk back to the bench beside Jack as Four stops Tris before she enters the ring. He says something to her, words of advice. He must really like her.

Then Tris is in the ring for all of half a second before Peter starts taunting her. Peter attacks her before she's prepared, but thankfully she pulls her wits together and blocks. He extends his arm too far for a hit and she jabs him in the throat, forcing his hands back as he struggles to breath.

"Come on, Tris!" I shout out. I feel Eric staring at me but I don't take my eyes off of Tris. Well, she puts up a good fight and refuses to stay down, and she even manages to elbow him in the face a few times, but once she's on the ground she looks up to see Four leaving, and I think that does it for her. Peter shows no mercy, and Tris is dragged away.

Next is Will and Christina, both of who have no intention of hurting the other. These two care about each other, a lot. Christina could easily take out Will, he presents her with many opportunities to do so. I think she lets him win on purpose. Although, when Christina can no longer fight, Will looks like a hurt puppy.

Next is Jack against Al. Yesterday, Jack won his fight against Drew and I noticed a few weaknesses that Drew had. Jack and Al are about the same height, and Al has a bigger build but I think Jack is stronger. Al's slow too. I look at my shoes. It's hard watching my brother throw punches and it's even harder to watch him get punched at. I wish I could intervene, and stop the fight. If I pretend to faint would they both stop?  
That's the Amity in me speaking. Even if I did faint, they wouldn't be allowed to stop the fight. I look back up and see Al on the ground, Jack wiping blood from his nose.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**-Throws glitter in the air- Self-insertion everywhere!**_

_**There's a link to the image of Jack/Tori's tattoo on my profile, take a look if you'd like**_


	6. Chapter 6

I look back up and see Al on the ground, Jack wiping blood from his nose.

I'm next. I'm taller than Drew, I might even be stronger. I can take him. I get into the ring and we circle each other, every step drawn out longer than the last.

Everyone is watching us.

I can see through his eyes that he's calculating where to attack me. Drew's distracted, his hands are at his face. I go in for a kick, pivoting to give me as much force as I can muster, and I hit him square in the chest, sending him stumbling back a few steps. His eyes look at my stomach and he charges at me. I block the punch with my forearm but it still hurts and I wince. I elbow him in the nose and he staggers. I aim a punch to his stomach but he catches on and blocks me, then knees me in the stomach.

I feel winded, like the air from my lungs has disappeared but I have no time. I knee Drew in the groin while he's calculating his next move, and he groans and hunches over. I kick him in the face, sending him backwards and he lies on the ground.

I don't want to hit Drew while he's on the ground.

I don't want to do it.

I won't.

Eric says something but I ignore him. This is my fight, I will not listen to him.

Drew gets up, but I see Myra swaying there instead. I hear her saying "_stop_."

Then something hits me in the stomach; Drew. He punched me.

I don't sway, I don't groan or anything. Drew looks at me expectantly, as if he thought I would've been knocked out with that one weak punch. I send my fist to his jaw and he's down.

That one punch leaves me feeling buzzed, and I wish Drew would get up so I can hit him again. He's done, he's just lying on the ground. I take it the fight is over. I can see he's blinking, so I don't help him up. Instead I walk passed him and sit next to Jack as Four circles my name on the board. Victory.

I look at my hands and my knuckles are bloody and bruised, but I don't think it's my blood. My hands are shaking, so I clench them into fists. Jack puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Before you leave, I've got an announcement." Four says. He raises his eyebrows in exasperation, adding "Field trip tomorrow. You'll learn a little more about the jobs available to you as a member of Dauntless. Be at the tracks by 8:15."

I remember Eric said the highest ranked get to choose their jobs, but I don't really know what the Dauntless actually do with their time when they don't guard the fence.

We get up to leave, but Eric stands next to Four with his arms cross and we all freeze. "There needs to be one last fight before you leave here today."

What? Who's fighting?

"We have, for the first time in Dauntless initiation history – a tie." Edward and Peter, most plausibly. "Can I please get in the ring..." He smiles at me, drawing out his words, "Jack and Tori."

He pulls up the scoreboard and in third place is Jack, fourth place is me. Next to both our names is the number three.

"What?" Jack asks in disbelief, chuckling. His eyebrows are raised. Now that I think about it, I fought Myra and Drew. I beat them both, but they weren't very strong. Jack fought against Drew and Al, and he was definitely stronger than both of them. Our fights were similar.

"You heard me." Eric says, smirking.

"I'm not fighting her," Jack says, crossing his arms like Four. He's not chuckling anymore.

"Jack..." I start. He turns to me, and by looking into my eyes he knows that refusing to fight could get him kicked out of Dauntless. Jack will beat me, I will make sure of it. I'm not going to try to win this fight. We speak to each other with our eyes, discussing our plan with the quirk of an eyebrow.

"In the ring,_ initiates_." Eric says, his cold eyes on us. Everyone is silent, sitting frozen in shock.

I start towards the ring and he follows me. We circle each other, not sure how to start. I raise my hands to my chest and he raises his to his face.

"Any day now," Eric teases. I look at Jack, beckoning him to attack first. He shakes his head. He wants me to kick him. Fine.

"_Faction before blood_, right?" I say as I extend with my left leg and hit him in the chest, I don't pivot so it doesn't harm him but he stumbles back anyways. Jack lunges forward sluggishly and I block him with ease. Hit hits again and I block. Again and again and again he alternates hitting me with both arms and I block every hit, my forearms stinging. He glances at my jaw and I don't block him as he punches. It wasn't a hard hit.

I laugh and wipe drool off my face. "Come on, Jack! You can hit harder than that," I spit out.

He throws another punch, but I block him. I can feel the force impacting my forearm even after he hits me.

"Jack, you fight like your sister," Eric says, his tone demeaning. The initiates laugh at me, and so does Jack. _Rude._

I let out a wrathful grunt as I raise my bent left leg, pivot with my right foot and extend. I kick Jack harder than I have hit anyone else and he falls backward and hits the ground hard from the impact. It takes him a few seconds to catch his breath, then he stands on his feet.

"You don't fight like me, Jack. I fight better." He stares at me in disbelief for a moment, then he catches my eye and understands. He comes at me for a punch and I keep my feet planted firmly, twisting my torso so that he punches right past me. I hit him quickly in the jaw and he groans. I take a few steps back, giving him some time to recover.

I see Eric and everyone else are no longer laughing, instead they all sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Turning back to Jack, he socks me in the jaw really hard and I spin and hit the ground face first. I look up and everything's cloudy.

I don't mind losing to Jack, we're equals.

But I have something to prove, and he doesn't. I need to win this fight.

Pulling myself up, I wipe drool- or blood, I'm not sure, and look at Jack and he understands where I'm coming from. I glance at his chest and he knows I'm going in for a kick so he tries to block me. What he doesn't know is that I have no intention of hitting him in the chest. I kick him in the groan, hard. As he hunches over, I kick his jaw back, sending him flying. He hits the ground and he doesn't get back up. I stand there for a moment, breathing heavily, expecting him to get back up and attack. When he doesn't, Eric applauds me and I feel sick. I drop to the ground next to Jack, holding my breath.

He lifts his hand and pokes my cheek, and I can't help but laugh. I pull his arm around my shoulder and hoist him up, walking away as I support him with my arm around his waist.

Four types away on a sheet of glass and the scoreboard changes. My name is third and Jack is fourth.

Our unspoken plan worked. We had to fight to prove to Eric that we believe in the mantra "_faction before blood_," and Eric was satisfied. Jack and I know each other, we know what we can and can not take. But in truth, blood comes before everything.

* * *

_**The Next Morning**_

We stand in front of the fence, beholding its vastness. It seems to stretch on forever. Does it end eventually or does it go in a big circle around the city?

"If you don't rank in the top five at the end of initiation, you will probably end up here," says Four as he reaches the gate. "Once you are a fence guard, there is some potential for advancement, but not much. You may be able to go on patrols beyond Amity's farms, but—"

"Patrols for what purpose?" asks Will.

Four lifts his shoulders in a shrug. "I suppose you'll discover that if you find yourself among them. As I was saying. For the most part, those who guard the fence when they are young continue to guard the fence. If it comforts you, some of them insist that it isn't as bad as it seems."

"Yeah. At least we won't be driving buses or cleaning up other people's messes like the factionless," Christina whispers in my ear, I shove her away "_playfully."_

Four says we can guard the fence or work for the security of our city. We can work in the Dauntless compound, drawing tattoos or making weapons or even fighting each other for entertainment. Or we can work for the Dauntless leaders. What will I do after initiation? Let's just try to get through initiation first.

We stop next to the gate. A few Dauntless guards glance in our direction but not many. They are too busy pulling the doors—which are twice as tall as they are and several times wider—open to admit a truck.

The familiar man with tanned skin driving wears a hat, a beard, and a smile. He is Scott's father. He stops just inside the gate and gets out. The back of the truck is open, and a few other Amity sit among the stacks of crates, including Harry. I clamp my hand over my mouth and Jack puts his hands on my shoulders.

An Amity transfer recognizes Tris. They talk and Harry hops off the truck as Dauntless check the truck's cargo. Scott's dad smiles at us and we wave back.

"Oh my god" He says, pulling me in a tight hug. He let's go and does the same to Jack. When he pulls away I caress his face with my hands. He looks much more like Scott, just a little shorter and his face is still round and immature. Harry launches into chatter, speaking so fast I can just barely understand him. He talks about everything and anything, but mostly about school and we let him. I want to hear him talk, hear his roaring Amity voice. If I spoke, I wouldn't know what to say to him. He doesn't talk about our parents, and we don't ask him. Behind him, the Dauntless guards are finished inspecting the cargo in the truck.

"You guys look good," He says loudly, backing away with a smile, "You look Dauntless."

Harry gets back into the truck and as they pull away, he starts strumming a guitar badly and singing off-key. After a few minutes, we catch a train back.

* * *

_**A/N: **_

_**I know, I know. What the hell is Harry doing here? **_

_**Do you trust me? I promise it's important for the later chapters. **_


	7. Chapter 7

I wake up to the sound of Eric barking orders. He tells us to get dressed in five minutes and meet him at the tracks. Again? Where are we going now? They've already shown us the fence, what's left, the factionless?

I groggily pull myself out of slumber, swallowing an Advil pill dry as we run towards the tracks, a pile of strange-looking guns and ammunition waiting for us. Paintball guns, but they look like toys.

Oh man, I've heard of these, though I've never actually fired one. How different can it be from the guns we've trained with? We file into the oncoming train with the Dauntless born initiates. I lug myself in without an ounce of grace and topple into someone, knocking them down under my own body. I stare into crisp grey storm clouds with bold strikes of lightning. This gaze is electrifying, paralyzing my movement. Seriously, I can't move. One of my hands holds me up, right beside her head but my arm is shaking and I feel like I'm about to collapse on her. Jack pulls me off her and I stagger a bit before regaining my balance. He offers her his hand but after blinking for a few seconds she's off the ground, shaking imaginary dust off of her baggy clothes. She's lost in the crowd of initiates before I have the chance to apologize.

Eric shows us how to load the guns, but they aren't loaded with paintballs. Instead, a neuron stimulating dart that portrays the effect of a real bullet, the pain lasts for a few minutes. Four says "it's _like_ capture the flag," when, in fact, it is literally capture the flag. We're supposed to play in mixed teams of transfers and Dauntless born. Four and Eric are team captains, both choosing from the group of transfers first.

Eric looks at me and I stare at my feet.

Please don't choose me, please don't choose me.

He chooses Peter.

Next, Four chooses Tris. Eric laughs, then chooses Edward.

_Come on, Four._

He looks at me and he must see the desperation in my eyes, but he ignores me.

Four chooses Christina. _Damn you, Four! _

Eric chooses me next.

They choose through Dauntless born initiates and I catch onto their strategy. Eric choses large and brute people. Our team may be brutally strong, but we don't look fast. The girl I toppled over is on our team.

On Four's team; Tris, Christina, Will, Molly, Al, Drew, Uriah, Marlene, Andrew, Lukas, and Elaine.

On Eric's team; Peter, Edward, myself, Jack, Myra (by default), April, Lynn, Kate, Joseph, Ian, and Mhicaela.

Four's team gets off first, and then we file off after Eric. A girl, April, flirts with Eric to find out where his team hid the flag when they played two years ago.

"Well, there's no point to that if Four was on his team." I say to her, then turning to Eric, I ask "Was he?" He doesn't answer me. Figures. Eric faces us all, preparing to speak so all eleven of us crowd together.

"What do you think the purpose of this game is?" Eric asks, to no one in particular.

"Learning about strategy?" Peter suggests, "Teamwork, maybe."

"Teamwork," Eric repeats. A laugh hitches in his throat.

"Maybe not," I say. Peter ruffles his hair and lets out a sigh as I say, "Teamwork doesn't seem to be a Dauntless priority."

"It's supposed to be a priority," Kate says.

"It used to be," Ian adds.

To Peter, Eric asks, "What do you think learning strategy has to do with bravery?"

Peter stares at the ground, incapable of coming up with an answer.

"It..." I start, hesitating when Eric's eyes flicker to mine, "It prepares you to act."

"We can't act until we know for certain where the other team is," Jack pitches in.

"The Carousel" another Dauntless-born initiate calls out. She's the girl I had knocked over earlier, Lynn. "My brother was on the winning team. That's where their team hid their flag."

"That's probably where Four would lead their team, then," Jack says.

"Great!" Mhicaela pipes up, running her hand through her long black hair, "We know where their flag is already. But where should we hide ours?"

"How about there?" Peter suggests. While my dislike for the infamous Candor boy is strong, I turn to see what he pointed at. A large abandoned building stood in the middle of a vast field with large crates scattered around it. The park was encircled by a thick forest, the perfect area for us.

"Navy Pier Park?" Joseph calls out, "That's so crazy it just might work."

"Sounds good to me," Lynn says, "the losing team hid theirs in an old university so Four won't have an advantage on us."

"But there's loads of open space" Kate reminds us.

"The trees provide camouflage," Jack counters.

"Would it be enough camouflage?" I ask.

"Doesn't really matter, if they're at the Carousel then they'll be able to see us no matter where we are. At least here the open space means we'll see them coming." Lynn says.

"We can't be certain," Kate says "Is there somewhere we could climb? Just to get a better vantage point."

"Those trees would be your best shot," I say, pointing to the large oak trees around us.

"I'll go up," Jack offers. He starts to climb up and Eric follows after him.

Everyone starts to argue over who should be in charge and what the best strategy would be and by the time Eric and Jack come down it's just me, Lynn, Kate, Joseph, and Ian.

"Where'd the others go?" Eric asks.

"They left for the building," Lynn shrugs.

"Lynn, you were right." Jack says. "I saw their flag at the carousel, they've only got four people waiting there. I saw the Ferris Wheel move, though, so they're probably on their way here."

"What should we do now?" Ian asks. Slowly, everyone's eyes turn to Lynn.

"Since they're on their way here, we can't risk sending too many people. We're in a more vulnerable position then they are, so four people go for the flag while the rest of us cover defense."

"Let's get to the building, figure out who goes." I suggest. With a nod from Eric, we quickly head back and share the information with the others.

It's decided that Myra, April, Mhicaela and Kate would scout out the Carousel for the flag while Peter, Edward, Joseph, Ian, Lynn, Jack, Eric and myself stay behind to defend our own flag.

While we perch behind the large crates Ian turns his flashlight on and Joseph teases him. To my surprise, he turns it off.  
I guess part of being Dauntless is being willing to make things more difficult for yourself in order to be self-sufficient.  
There's nothing especially brave about wandering dark streets with no flashlight, but we're not supposed to need help, even from light. We're supposed to be capable of anything.  
I like that. There might come a day when there is no flashlight, there is no gun, there is no guiding hand; and I want to be ready for it.

As we wait, I saunter over to Lynn who stands next to Eric. Her cold, hard scowl fades and her eyes crinkle when she smiles, her faint lips curving. "Can't believe you pinned me down!" She says.

I let out a laugh and say, "Yeah!" With a bit too much enthusiasm. "Sorry bout that," I add. God, she's so pretty. Her shaved head, her baggy clothes all say that she's trying not to be. A face like that can't be hidden. She has a ring that pierces her eyebrow, glinting when it hits the light of someone's flashlight.

"No worries," she says to me. "Not many people can do that though. Pin me down, I mean."

I hum, stroking my chin. "Then you must be doing pretty well in the initiations, right?" I'm trying to be cool and calm, and when she's not looking I wipe my clammy hands on my pants.

"Yeah, you could say that. I'm third place right now. Lynn, by the way."

"Tori." I say, "I'm in third place too." She nods in approval.

Our attention turns towards the forest when we here someone cry out in pain. What was going on?

"That sounded a lot like Uriah," Lynn warns us. I run back to my position and Jack holds his hands out like a step for me. I place my foot on him and he boosts me up, then I grab his arms and hoist him up too. We lie on our stomachs like trained snipers and wait for any sign of movement through the forest.

While Myra, Kate, Mhicaela and April were on offense, we had devised a strategy. Ian and Joseph were to go inside the abandoned building and guard the flag, Jack and I were like snipers hidden on top of a crate, Peter and Edward were guarding the entrance into the building, Lynn took a defensive position to the right and Eric, to the left. For now, Eric waited just behind the crate we were on so we could tell him what was going on.

Everything happened so fast. The first one to be hit was Peter, who was standing unprepared infront of the abandoned building, everyone ran to take cover in their positions. A couple figures inched out of the trees and immediately Jack and I hit them, forcing them to limp right back into the safety of the forest. Shots flew out in every direction at our team, Jack and I followed the line of fire and shot down the hidden enemies when we heard grunts and cries of pain.

Thirty long drawn out seconds of silence passed between both sides. I held a hand out to warn Eric to wait as something caught my eye. Suddenly they came out, maybe fifty yards away, seven figures stalking towards us in a V formation.

"Wait, this isn't right" I warn Jack. "Why would they come at us headstrong? That would be Eric's tactic."

"Who cares? Just shoot them down" Jack counters.

"Talk to me, Amity!" Eric growls up at us through gritted teeth.

"Watch out," I warn Eric, "Something's not right."

"All seven bodies out in the open!" Jack calls out.

"Geese!" I hiss at Jack. He knows exactly what I mean. During migration season back in Amity, when we hunt fowl, we've developed a system of dividing the birds so we don't both target the same ones. I get the far side of the V, Jack takes the near, and we alternate shots at the front bird. There's no time for further discussion. I estimate the lead time on the figures and let my bullet fly.

Two shots ring out at the same time, one from me and the other from Jack. Both bodies hit the ground and clutch one of their limbs in pain. We keep going, alternating our pattern, hitting some and missing others. All in all, we hit five. Two fell to the ground, two limped on and three sprinted past, unfazed.

"Eric," I call down at him, "You've got three bodies coming this way."

Squinting in the darkness, Jack adds "Looks like Four's coming. The others are gaining." It sounded like he shuffled away into his position.

We keep four of them in the field, forcing them to stay put but once the other three get past the crate we're on, we're too preoccupied to look back. When the four figures crawl back to the trees, Jack looks to me.

"Keep your eyes on the forest," I tell him, "I'll help Eric and the others out."

He nods and I turn around, a little taken a back by the scene.

"Scratch that," I say with wide eyes, "Need your help back here."

Jack turns his back on the forest and we shoot as many people as we can from our position. It seemed five other members snuck up on us from behind because eight people on Four's team were trying to make their way to the abandoned building. I see Four, Tris, Christina, Uriah, Will, Marlene, Al and Drew shooting at our team.

Fortunately, crates were scattered everywhere and Four's team was using them to take cover, meaning they had their backs to us and were completely exposed. One by one we shot Drew, Al, Will, Uriah, and Marlene several times, sending them to the ground in agony. Four, Tris and Christina were out of our range and managed to shoot Edward and Peter (again), who were meant to guard the entrance to the abandoned building.

Jack hops down and I followed his lead, trying to get closer to the three who went unscathed.

I see Eric and Four trying to shoot each other, both of equal skill, dodging and aiming back and forth. Something in Eric's eyes told me not to hit him and Jack saw it too. Instead, we hit Christina at the same time. Tris panics and runs off into the mania while the others start to revive from the shots we sent at them. They stalk towards us just as Eric gets hit and Four runs after Tris.

Bam.

Bam. Bam.

Bam.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

I'm not sure what happened after that, my body shut down after seven shots. When I did finally wake up, I was lying with my head in Jack's lap as I saw Tris standing at the top of the abandoned building, waving our neon flag around wildly.

* * *

The Dauntless born initiates are pretty amazing people. They're really not as bad as I thought, I had assumed they would all be like Four or Eric. Though, now that I think about it, Four and Eric are two different sides of Dauntless.

Four and Eric walk next to each other but they don't say a word. Four is satisfied with his victory, I can tell because he's not scowling as much as he typically does. Eric, on the other hand, is placid. His face is completely blank and something tells me it has taken him a long time to master disguising his emotions.

Unsure of what to do, I wave goodbye to Lynn and the others and drag Jack to the Pit. We sit on one of the grooves carved into the stone walls and people watch as we laugh and talk. Eric sits with a few friends on a groove close to us.

"Can't believe we lost," Jack says, shaking his head. We have to raise our voices due to all the chatter around us.

"I don't really care," I say, shrugging. "I think we held out pretty well and did the best we could considering our circumstances."

"That's true," He says nodding.

Jack notices Eric's presence when he and his group of friends laugh loudly and cheer. He says "I still don't understand what piercings have to do with being brave." He's of course referring to the giant piercing in Eric's forehead.

I say "I don't think it has anything to do with it." He raises his eyebrows at me. "The Dauntless are people of few fears. I think they try to scare the other factions in every way possible to make themselves look fearless. I mean, think about it. A faction like Abnegation must be terrified when they see a dude with fifteen piercings."

"Speaking of piercings," He starts, "What do you want?"

"I'm thinking my eyebrow," I say, wiggling my eyebrows to make him laugh a loud Amity laugh.

"Let's go now! I want something too," He says, and I raise my eyebrows and smile at him.

"This is a first! Jack Argent, getting a piercing? I think one on the lips would look good on you," I say, "But not just yet. I think we should wait a few days, until the physical stage of initiation is over..." I hesitate.

"...And?" Jack presses.

"And until after visiting day."

The topic was bound to come up eventually. We may not be talking in private but at least our friends aren't around. Eric's a little too close for comfort but Jack and I need to have this conversation and now seems like the only chance we'll get to have it. I think Eric is eavesdropping. I don't care, let him listen.

Jack lets out a chuckle and says, "Visiting day." He looks at his hands. "Do you think they'll come?"

"I know they will." I answer with out an ounce of doubt.

"Do you want them to come?" He asks me.

I glance at Eric, who's friends are now gone. He's definitely listening. Jack doesn't care. "No."

He says to me, "Do you think they'll be angry? What if –"

"Stop it Jack." I say, cutting him off. He stares at me, confused. "Stop psyching yourself out." I take his warm hands in my freezing cold ones and say, "They will come. Do what you will, I don't want to see them." Jack knows that last line was meant more for Eric than him.

He smiles, shakes his head and says, "God, Tori. Why are your hands always so cold?"

"It's because of my cold heart," I say with an innocent smile. Jack doesn't know, he doesn't understand.

"What heart?" Jack asks, snorting. We rise and begin to walk, but I stop in front of a store, the orange lights bouncing off Jack's face. He's growing subtle facial hair.

"Jack," I say, changing the subject, "Seeing Harry yesterday..."

"Oh no." He says, "You've been thinking."

"Remember what they told us on the first day?" I look away and into the shop.

Jack sighs and says, "Tori, they told us a lot of stuff on the first day." I see bookshelves stacked with all sorts of old books.

"About leaving. 'You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless'" I say, mimicking Eric's husky voice to the best of my abilities.

"What about it?" Jack asks slowly, as if he knows I'll drag him into something stupid that he doesn't want to do. Do the Dauntless really read or is it just for show for when people of other factions visit?

"I want to go to the Erudite headquarters." I say, conviction strong in my voice. There are chairs all around the store, but it's absolutely deserted.

"What?" Jacks asks, laughing. "Why not somewhere _fun?_" Books must definitely be for show here. I bet if I opened one up it would be hollowed out with a gun inside or something.

"Scott." I say shortly. "I've got something I want to ask him, and I think you'll want to hear what he knows, that is, if he knows anything at all." I take off my sweater and remind Jack of our tattoos.

"You think he'll know what it means? Why not just ask mom and dad?" He asks.

"Well, he's our best shot." I say, the conviction in my voice fading. "I doubt our parents would tell us, and they'd probably just be upset if they see it inked to our skin. Cover up when they come, but ask Ma about it."

"Okay," he agrees, "But who'd escort us? It's not like the Dauntless are lining up to take us places."

"Leave that to me," I say. Our conversation ends there. My brother looks like he thinks I know someone willing to take us, when in fact, I do not. There are only a few Dauntless that I know. Four, Eric, and Fry. I don't know any of them well enough. "Fuck it," I say, adding "let's go get piercings now." Jack raises his eyebrows in mock surprise.

Fry was my piercer, he pinched my right eyebrow and with a clamp he pierced a bar through my skin, then screwed the silver balls on. I felt blood trickle down my face before Fry could wipe it up.

He blushes before saying "Uh, you're blood is really thin. Are you, you know..." I raise my I unpierced eyebrow, urging him to continue. "Have you been taking any medication? For, like, your _thing_."

"What?" I ask, confused.

"Menstrual cycle, period, waterfall of blood..." He says, his face a bright pink colour.

"Oh." I say, suppressing boisterous laughter. "Uh, I took some Advil this morning."

"Right." Fry says shortly. Poor guy.

He pierces through the skin under my bottom lip with another bar, just one silver ball showing from the labret. This time, he's ready to clean the blood before it starts to spill.

Jack gets a ring in his lip and his ears pierced with white spikes. His blood doesn't run down his face.

While Fry's piercing him, I think of the Dauntless I know. Eric makes me uncomfortable and to be honest, I'm intimidated by Four. Fry was kind but we hardly spoke, all he did was give me a tattoo and some piercings. I could ask Lauren, she seems approachable, I guess, but I think it'll be weird to ask her since she's not our instructor. I yawn and Jack rises, pulling me with him out of the parlour. I do not sleep well tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

In the training room, there's a row of targets set up and a table of knives. Atleast nobody will get hurt today.

Eric's standing infront of us, his presence demanding our attention. "Today, you'll be learning how to aim. Everyone pick up three knives." His voice is harsher than usual. "And pay attention while Four demonstrates the correct technique for throwing them."

Why doesn't Eric demonstrate instead? He'd earn a little respect from all of us. Maybe he just likes taking advantage of ordering Four around. Knife throwing is important, I need to pay attention. My piercings throb to my heartbeat and my tattoo itches.

Again, I watch Four closely. His stance, his technique. Every single time he hits his target. This is a man I can respect. This is a man I can see being a Dauntless leader, not Eric.

"Line up!" Eric orders. I grab three knives and take my position. I go through the motions and mimic Four as closely as I can, I manage to hit my targets but they don't hit near the centre and don't really stick. Jack does really well, he's the first to hit his targets and they stick right away. Something feels off. I think back to how Four's feet were positioned, his right foot forward. I try again and it still feels wrong. Eric stops pacing from behind us and I can feel his presence just a few feet away. One more time. Right foot forward. I fling the knife, and it sticks, still far from the center but I feel awkward. "Here," Eric says, stepping closer to me. "Flip the position of your body, keep your left foot forward." His large hands adjust my legs, then he changes the position of my arms. Maybe it's just the lack of sleep, but I feel his hands gently linger on my skin. He takes a step back and I throw the knife with ease at the target, and it finally hits the center. "Better," he says.

Then Eric stalks off and yells at Al. Tris steps up for him. She's brave. She's selfless. Somehow, training ends with Four throwing knives at Tris. The Dauntless have a strange way of showing affection for each other.

* * *

Again, I have trouble sleeping. The clock on the wall says 6:15 and I give up trying. I take a freezing cold shower to wake myself up and when I get out I see someone staring back at me. Her hair is short and it frames her face, she has high cheekbones. Her skin is tan and olive toned. Her eyes are wild and alert, no dark circles despite the lack of sleep. I look away from the mirror and get dressed.

Today is the last day of the physical training. It's also most likely the last day I have to pull my rank up as high as I can. Sneaking out of the dorm, I head to the dining hall for some food. I grab the first thing I see, a chocolate muffin and some strong coffee, and I'm about to sit at my usual table at the back of the hall when I notice Fry sitting by himself, eating toast.

"You know, Amity drugs their bread. I wouldn't be surprised if Dauntless does too. I'm betting steroids in place of peace serum, though." I say, taking a seat across from him.

He looks up at me and says, "Well, if that's the case then I need me some Amity-bread. You know, I never did get your name."

"Tori," I say, feigning a smile.

"Tori? I work with a woman named Tori." He says, as if now we are obligated to get along.

"Well, if that's the case then I guess we'll get a long just fine." I say, teasing him.

"Okay, Tori. I take it you didn't make conversation with me just because I'm your charming tattoo artist." He says. I nod in confirmation.

"Us initiates aren't allowed to leave the compound with out an actual member of Dauntless," I begin. He nods his head knowingly. "Would you like to escort me and my brother to Erudite headquarters?"

Fry hums, then says "Not my idea of a first date. Can I ask why Erudite?"

"I just want to talk to a friend of mine, he used to be our neighbour. So will you take us?" I ask eagerly, smiling flirtatiously with him.

"Oh, how could I refuse such a pretty face, of course I will. Have a date in mind? We'll have to take it up with a Dauntless leader." He says, leaning forward towards me.

"Is the day after tomorrow alright?" I ask.

"Sounds good to me. Meet me at the shop after your training, today's supposed to be the last day of physical training, isn't it?" Fry asks, and I nod. "Good luck."

"How'd you do in your initiate class?" I ask.

He says "You know Four, right?" I nod. "He was first in my class. I barely scraped by and thought working in the compound is better than watching the factionless."

"Wise choice." I say, smiling.

"What about you? Any idea what you want to do after initiation?" He asks.

"Leadership sounds interesting, but if I'm honest I never want to see Eric again after initiation, let alone work with him. I was thinking of working in the compound too. Maybe even the tattoo parlour." I say.

"Can you draw?" He asks. "Oh, wait. Amity, right? Are you any good?"

"I'd like to think that I'm very good," I say. Fry raises his eyebrows, impressed. Someone calls Fry's name and beckons him over, and with a salute he bids me farewell. I head back to my usual table and eat my muffin until Jack comes in ten minutes later. The last day of training. The last day that I have to fight someone with out a good reason.

Tori – Will

Al – Jack

Christina – Myra

Drew – Edward

Tris – Molly

Peter –

I am not amused. Will is my friend, but in the ring he will hurt me if he needs to. And from the last few fights, he needs to. He's already in the ring, waiting for me. I see a glint in his eye and I know what he's thinking. He thinks I'll attack him first with a kick, and that the rest of the match is his. He knows I'm good, but he doesn't think I'm good enough to beat him. I have to try.  
I bring my arms up in a defensive position and we circle each other slowly. He keeps his arms in front of his chest, like he's anticipating my attack. Instead, I elbow him in the throat. I definitely took him by surprise, but I have just lost a huge advantage. Will no longer underestimates me.

He hits me in the jaw and the impact is so hard that I jerk back from the force, my back facing him. Next thing I know, one of Will's arms are compressed around my chest and the other is around my waist. I can't squirm out of his iron grip and I begin to panic. I spot Jack in the crowd and that brings me back to my senses. I send my elbow into a soft nerve in his abdomen and his grip loosens as he hunches into me. I stop on his foot as hard as I can and he cries out. I turn and send my elbow flying to his nose, not wasting any opportunities. I finish with what most people consider my signature move. I knee Will in the groin and when he hunches over I kick his jaw back with brute force and I've done it.

I breathe heavily, my lungs burning and Will let's out a painful groan from the floor but he doesn't get up. Four drags him away and Eric circles my name, looking impressed. Victory. I have now won four fights in a row. I am so breathless that I heave myself onto the bench next to Christina.

I breathe heavily, my lungs burning and Will let's out a painful groan from the floor but he doesn't get up. Four drags him away and Eric circles my name, looking impressed. Victory. I have now won four fights in a row. I am so breathless that I heave myself onto the bench next to Christina.

Now Jack has to fight Al. I was right about Al being too kind, he raises his hands to defend his face but it's so obvious he won't put up a fight. I don't think Al has to win his fights, he just needs to show that he _can_ fight. It's a short fight.

I'm beginning to feel a tickle in my jaw where Will hit me.

Jack finishes the fight with a clean uppercut to Al's jaw. Al, much like Will, has to be dragged away by Four. I pat the spot next to me on the bench and Jack takes a seat next to me. He rests his head on my shoulders, breathing heavily.

The fight between Christina and Myra lasts less than a minute. After a few hits, Myra hits the ground and Christina doesn't give her the chance to get back up. Eric shakes his head. _What's this?_ Is there an actual ounce of decency in Eric?

Drew and Edward fight next and Drew keeps trying to charge at him with punches but Edward's fast and dodges all of them. My jaw is burning with rage so I get up to grab a pack of ice from the other side of the arena. I open the freezer, which comes up to my thighs and I have to crouch to see inside. When I stand and turn around, Eric is right behind me and I drop my ice pack. I blink at him a couple times, then bend down and pick it up off the floor and press it to my jaw. The irritation subsides almost instantly.

"What?" I ask him. Shouldn't he be watching Drew and Edward?

"Congratulations. You fought well." He says to me with a smile. I fight my Amity instincts and I don't smile back or say thank you. I keep my face blank and nod, then I walk past him and sit back next to Jack who lays his head on my shoulder again. Drew's on the ground, his face spewing with blood. The final fight is between Tris and Molly. When she enters the ring, Tris looks different. Something in her eyes and the way she holds herself tells me she's out for revenge. The fight finishes with Four who has to intervene and stop Tris from kicking Molly while she's on the ground.

I don't ask Tris any questions, but she looks satisfied.

Training is over and it's 6:00, and even though I'm really hungry I go to the Pit and find Fry in the tattoo shop. He waves goodbye to the woman named Tori.

"Damn. I didn't know I liked my girls hot, sweaty and straight from a farm," Fry teases.

"For your information, I've only been on a farm once when I was a kid and I hated it." I say, poking him in the arm. He grins at me, and I look away. He leads the way and tells me about how brutal Eric was during initiation and I listen, the way he speaks captivating me. I'm unsure of where we're going but I don't want to interrupt his story, until we stop in front of a door and he knocks. We hear a muffled "Come in" and Fry opens the door.

"Wait here," He says to me, and I nod. Lingering in the doorway, I see people who are most likely Dauntless leaders. And then I see Eric. And then I see Fry approach Eric. I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from groaning. I wait in agony as Fry talks to Eric, and they glance over at me. The way Eric looks at me, with such curiosity, confirms my suspicions of him being a transfer. He's from Erudite, there's no getting rid of that curiosity to solve things and right now, he's trying to figure me out with his hungry eyes. Eric looks back at Fry and nods his head, and I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding in.

* * *

As I cut my hair my mind wanders. I cut the sides short and style the top. I have a quiff. It looks risqué and I feel mature.

Visiting day. Vis-it-ing day. Visit. What a strange word. How strange that _to __go to see and spend time with someone socially_ can be wrapped up in one word. Visit. Visiting day. The day Ma and my father will want to come see and spend time with me socially. But there is a thought that has been niggling in the back of head for a very long time. There is every possibility that they will not visit today. Or ever again. For Jack's sake, I hope they're here.

I sit on my made bed, holding in my hands the flower crown my father made for me. The flowers, to my surprise, haven't wilted. I am wearing tight black pants, and a loose T-shirt with a V-neck, exposing my collar bones. I wear my black and white sneakers and my face is painted with the makeup I wore on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. My tattoo, though it itches, is covered. My piercings throb in rhythm, sending a pulse through my head. I put the flower crown on as Eric walks in.

"Attention!" he announces, flicking a lock of dark hair from his eyes. "I want to give you some advice about today. If by some miracle your families do come to visit you…" He scans our faces and smirks, "…which I doubt, it is best not to seem too attached. That will make it easier for you, and easier for them. We also take the phrase '_faction before blood_' very seriously here." Eric gaze flickers between Jack and I. "Attachment to your family suggests you aren't entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful. Understand?"

We understand. We understand that threat loud and clear.

On my way out of the dormitory, Eric glares at my flower crown. Jack walks beside me down the dimly lit corridor, and before we walk through the doors of the Pit, he holds my hand. Jack, my baby brother of two minutes, is scared. I squeeze his hand and smile, showing off my teeth and dimples, and pull him through the doors. Jack has nothing to be scared of, our parents love him. They would never harm him or let him be harmed.

Clusters of families stand on the Pit floor, most of them Dauntless families with Dauntless initiates. Drew and Molly stand alone, fiddling with their thumbs. I guess their families didn't show. Peter stands with his mother and father, Christina with her mother and sister, Tris with her mother and Will with his sister. I see Lynn with her sister and brother.

I scan the endless black for spurts of colour when Jack squeezes my arm and points to the other side of the room. Dressed in Amity yellow and orange, are our parents. They stand amoungst themselves, gazing up at the vastness of the Pit. We did the same thing on our first day here.

"No," I say aloud. Eric, who stood quite close by, turned to face me in confusion. "You go," I say to my brother. "I can't do this."

Jack stares at me in disbelief. "Seriously? You won't even meet them?" Unsure of what else to do, I mimic Eric's usual stance. I stand tall, cross my arms and send him a challenging look. Whatever I did worked because Jack shrunk a couple inches under my gaze.

"Ask them about the symbol," I remind him. Turning on my heels, I ignore the curious look Eric sends me as I walk out of the Pit and to a place I know no one will look for me.


End file.
